By now most of you will have seen some stupid conservative meme going around about President Obama’s vacation days “on the taxpayer dime.” Conservatives have tiny brains with short memories. They forget the absentee President George W. Bush, who holds the record for most vacation days ever. But then again, President George W. Bush was the right corporate color, wasn’t he, TEApublicans?
In the 2011 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study “Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007,” the CBO documents that for the 1% of the population, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent over a period of 28 years.
Today, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report: "ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress." The report identifies and analyzes 466 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bills introduced in 2013.
This week, ALEC celebrates its 40th anniversary in Chicago. At this meeting -- as in all ALEC meetings -- lobbyists from U.S. and foreign corporations will vote as equals alongside state legislators to adopt ALEC "model" bills, which then will be distributed nationwide with little or no disclosure of their ALEC roots.
In 2013, ALEC is going to new lengths to hide its lobbying of legislators from the public eye. It has taken to stamping all its documents as exempt from state public records laws, dodging open records with a "dropbox" website, and other tricks. After Watergate, many states strengthened their laws regarding open meetings and open records, but real sunshine on government is anathema to ALEC.
Last year was one of the 10 hottest on record, with sea levels at record highs, Arctic ice at historic lows and extreme weather in various corners of the globe signaling a "new normal," scientists said Tuesday in the 2012 State of the Climate report.
http://reut.rs/145v2FlMeant to be a guide for policymakers, the report did not attribute the changes in climate to any one factor, but made note of continued increases in heat-trapping greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
http://politi.co/17y1HW1Wrapping up his sixth Tonight Show appearance with Jay Leno —and probably his last before the host hands over the reins of the franchise to Jimmy Fallon early next year — President Barack Obama said he’d come with a parting gift for a man who owns perhaps Hollywood’s most famous car collection.
“There’s one piece that’s missing,” Obama said, unveiling a Matchbox-size replica of the presidential limousine, complete with flying flags above the headlights.
Until recently, brands and non-profits were unable to deliver military and veteran discounts through their website or mobile apps because they were unable to verify their customers eligibility. Troop ID solved this problem by creating a digital ID card for service members and veterans so they had a secure means of proving their identity online. The service -- free to service members and veterans -- launched on November 12, 2012 with Under Armour. Since launch, many more brands like Overstock and Tough Mudder have integrated the technology.
The following list is a comprehensive guide to Troop ID protected military and veteran discounts: http://bit.ly/16A68Tc
A detention center in Fremont, California is the most recent jail in the state to let inmates pay to stay in a newer, less-crowded facility than the regular county jail. For $155 per night — about the cost of a three-star hotel — both men and women convicted of misdemeanors can bunk in a special area of the Fremont Detention Center instead. While the new lodging option was intended to boost revenue and reduce overcrowding in county jails nearby, critics say the “alternative confinement program” is really just a jail for the rich.
